Paul Okon has been copping it from some who feel his Young Socceroos should be admonished for failing to make it out of the group stages at the recent under-20 World Cup in Turkey.

This has happened despite the team being widely praised for their tactical set-up and for adopting the possession-based style that is universally acknowledged to work well at senior levels.

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That they were good enough to lead in all three group matches has enraged some who feel the side weren't “tough” enough to go further. In a testing group, against Colombia, El Salvador and hosts Turkey, they drew once and lost twice.

Since we crave cups and plates of all sizes, even for junior tournaments, knives have emerged from the shadows. After all, this country has a proud history of standing tall at youth levels.

In 1991 and 1993, the Young Socceroos made the World Cup semi-finals; the quarter-finals in 1981 and 1995. The under-17 side made the final in 1999.

Notably, Okon was the star pupil of the 1991 side. But even he has come to realise the true value of these tournaments lies not in results but how many elite players you ultimately develop.

Not one of the 1999 team has became regular Socceroos – Josh Kennedy and Jade North remain the closest. Utterly staggering.

Though it might do good for some chest beating, and make us feel as though we are actually developing players, the proof is in the senior pudding. And let's be frank: it's only the Socceroos which gets football on the back page.

Everything else should be geared towards producing as many top quality players for the senior national team. If we happen to pick up a few results along the way, and a few trophies or medals, wonderful. But it cannot be the express ambition.

Besides, Australian football already has enough of a challenge from a developmental perspective to worry about gaining results at the younger levels.

To put it bluntly, countries across the world are getting better at football. Third world or first world, rich or poor – they're all improving. Many faster than we are.

Contrary to our sepia-toned memories, Australia does not have, and has never truly had, a street-sport culture. Street cricket, perhaps, but even that's now long gone.

It's on those streets that the children of Africa and Latin America (and parts of Asia, like Iraq and Iran) have honed touch, skill, instinct and spatial awareness. Quick minds, even quicker feet.

Nor do we have the first-world football factories of Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium, where blueprint footballers are taught, from a young age, not just the art of football but the science.

Our kids generally get an hour or two on a Saturday, where parents, doubling up as coaches, encourage kids to run harder and kick longer. The “Aussie way” is derived from the Olympic way: faster, higher, stronger. But smarter or more skilled? Our kids don't learn that.

Football Federation Australia's well-intentioned football curriculum is still trickling to the grassroots and the benefits won't be truly seen for decades. But teaching the next generation to play better football will, in turn, teach them how to win.

That's why Okon deserves support for getting these players to undertake a style that will win matches at the only level that really counts.

But he is just one man and this is just one team. When the whole country gets on board, we'll not only start playing the right way, we might get our trophies, too.